Search This Blog

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Madeleine McCann: New UK Police Investigation

The Met Police said it still believed there was a chance
Madeleine was alive and it was investigating 38 "persons of interest"
after reviewing the evidence.

Madeleine's parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, said the shift
from review to investigation was "a big step forward".

Madeleine was almost four when she disappeared in Portugal
in May 2007.

She went missing from her family's holiday flat in the
Algarve resort of Praia da Luz, as her parents dined out with friends at a
nearby restaurant.

Portuguese authorities dropped their investigation into her
disappearance in 2008, but Scotland Yard started a review in May 2011, after
Prime Minister David Cameron had responded to a plea from the McCanns, of
Rothley, Leicestershire.

New theories

Det Ch Insp Andy Redwood, who is heading what has been
called Operation Grange, said: "The review has given us new thinking, new
theories, new evidence and new witnesses."

His 37-strong police team is two-thirds of the way through
examining 30,500 documents from files held by the Portuguese, private
investigators and British police. Some fresh interviews have also taken place.

"Over the last two years what the review has told me is
that there is no clear, definitive proof that Madeleine McCann is dead,"
Det Ch Insp Redwood said.

"So on that basis, I still genuinely believe that there
is a possibility that she is alive."

He added: "It is a positive step in our hunt for
Madeleine that our understanding of the evidence has enabled us to shift from
review to investigation."

Scotland Yard's decision to formally open its own
investigation - which, like the review, will be funded by the Home Office -
follows extensive discussions with UK prosecutors and the Portuguese.

BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said: "It's
highly unusual - although not unprecedented - for a British police force to
launch its own inquiry into an incident abroad."

In a statement, the McCanns said: "Kate and Gerry
warmly welcome the shift in the Met's emphasis from review to investigation.

"It is clearly a big step forward in establishing what
happened and, hopefully, towards bringing whoever is responsible for
Madeleine's abduction to justice."

The Met said the 38 "persons of interest," who
include 12 British nationals, are from five European countries - Portugal, the
UK and three unnamed others.

Detectives say they need to find out more information and
collect evidence on them and are not anticipating any immediate arrests.

The 12 UK nationals, who are not all currently in the UK,
are believed to have been in Portugal at the time of Madeleine's disappearance.

Portuguese assistance

The Met said it was "at an advanced stage of
dialogue" with the other countries involved, and enquiries would be
continuing with their assistance in the months ahead "to establish more
information about the individuals concerned and any potential involvement".

A foreign national resident abroad could not be prosecuted
in the UK for any possible crime that may be linked to Madeleine's
disappearance.

Detectives say Madeleine's parents, the friends the McCanns
were with in Portugal and people known to the family before they went away are
not suspects or people they need to investigate.

The investigation is currently closed in Portugal and as
part of the country's criminal justice system it cannot be reopened unless
judges are convinced there are solid grounds to do so.

British police have formally asked the Crown Prosecution
Service to submit an international letter of request to Portuguese authorities
for assistance in obtaining evidence relating to their inquiries.

The Met has asked for a small number of its officers to be
present in Portugal for the inquiries there.

As part of the review, a computer-generated image of how
Madeleine might have looked at the age of nine was created with the help of her
family. They marked her 10th birthday on 12 May.

By May 2012 - one year into the review - the Home Office's
costs had reached £1.9m. The Met Police said a more up-to-date figure for the
cost of the review would be released in due course.

The former head of the National Police Improvement Agency
Peter Neyroud said it was a difficult investigation because it involved two
countries, possibly more.

"It was always going to be an expensive inquiry and it
is a fine judgement as to how far you go on but if, as appears, there are fresh
lines of inquiry and a case worth pursuing, there is a young lady out there who
deserves to be reunited with her parents - or a murder case that deserves to be
pursued."